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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joe Golder, Agency: Newsflash
Animal rights activists have released graphic images which they say show a pig farm in France where the carcasses of dead hogs are left to be devoured by entire bins of maggots and pregnant sows are stabbed with screwdrivers.
The footage was provided by French animal rights organisation L214 and its co-founder Sebastien Arsac said in an exclusive interview that disposing of their corpses in such a way is a gross violation of the rules governing their removal.
L214 said in the statement that the footage was shot at a pig farm called SCEA Les Tremblats II, which is located in the commune of Annay sur Serein, in the north-central Yonne department, about 230 kilometres (140 miles) south-east of the capital Paris.
The disturbing images allegedly show pregnant sows being stabbed and beaten with screwdrivers with one apparently suffering a heart attack as a result.
L214 said: “A farm worker, who worked for more than two years on the pig farm, is denouncing the serious abuse and mistreatment of the animals.”
They added: “As can be seen in the images, shot with his mobile phone, sows are hit multiple times with a screwdriver to make them move faster. Swollen all over their bodies, sows are dying on the concrete floor of the farm. Young sows have their teeth pulled with pincers.”
Other images show the carcasses of pigs being left in bins to rot and be eaten by maggots. Arsac, who has been campaigning for animal rights for years, said that one of the workers decided to go public after filing complaints with his superiors that went unanswered.
He said that the worker became depressed and decided that the information needed to be made public.
The whistleblower also filed a complaint with local law enforcement but that went unanswered too, according to Arsac. He said: “The whistleblower lodged a complaint with the gendarmerie in February but there has been no reply so far. We filed a complaint yesterday (Wednesday) with the Auxerre prosecutor’s office.”
Auxerre is the capital of the Yonne department.
L214 are calling for the farm to be inspected by the relevant authorities immediately and for sanctions to be issued. Their petition is available online here: https://www.l214.com/enquetes/2021/alerte-cochons-tremblats-yonne/
In the statement, Arsac said: “We commend the courage of this employee who decided to make public the serious abuse committed on the animals at the pig farm of Tremblats, in the Yonne department.
“The sows and piglets in this farm are already living a miserable life, as is the case on the majority of pig farms (95 percent of pig farms are intensive).”
He is calling for sanctions against this farm to be issued and for it to be banned to kill piglets by slamming them against the ground.
The practice of castrating piglets without an anaesthetic is set to be banned as of 1st January 2022, according to L214.
The statement also details how the whistleblower allegedly never saw veterinary services inspecting the farm.
Although testifying in the footage without his face being blurred, he nevertheless declined to reveal his identity.
He said: “What I would like is for the person in charge to no longer work in this field, and that he close the pig farm down completely because otherwise it will carry on like this.”
According to L214, the farm has been illegally cutting the tails off piglets in a systematic way, while gestating sows are also denied water and the animals are packed together too closely, all in violation of various local, national and European rules.
L214 also claim that the young sows have their teeth pulled with pincers, which is “prohibited in the decree of 16 January 2003 – annex I, paragraph 1. 8”. They also alleged that workers use cattle prods abusively in violation of “the European regulation of September 24, 2009 – Annex III, paragraph 1.9”.
The organisation said that the images also show areas “where dead pigs of all ages are stored. Some corpses are literally eaten by maggots. One of the dumpsters, from which bones can be seen emerging, is full of them.”
It is also alleged that the animals are never treated when they are injured, which would allegedly also be in violation of French law.
L214 say that the Tremblats II farm, allegedly owned by a company called Provent-SDPR group, which is based in the eastern Savoie region and allegedly operates about 100 pig farms, houses 1,800 sows, which is three times the national average.
Newsflash contacted the pig farm for comment but they had not replied at the time of writing.
